Comets
by The Tsundere Fangirl
Summary: "When beggars die, there are no comets seen/The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes." - William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (II.2.30-32) Contains fluff, ends with angst.
1. Morning

"My lord, why do you rouse me this early?"

Horatio rubbed morning wakefulness out of his eyes as he labored to escape the tangle of linen sheets and his prince's arms. When Hamlet woke up of his own accord and insisted you get out of the sack too, it was something important.

"Ah, Horatio!" Hamlet replied energetically, "the players are in town! I hear they're putting on a good show, too, in the afternoon. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, I believe it was called, written by an excellent playwright of English origin."

"My lord, we have class in the afternoon. The professor of Astronomy is a strict one and he has had it with our excuses. If I miss more class I'll fall behind," Horatio said, worried. "And they might revoke my scholarship."

"No worries, Damon dear," Hamlet reassured his friend. "We can attend the morning lecture for Astronomy, or get Rosencrantz to take notes for us. If they do revoke your scholarship, I'll pay your tuition."

"My lord-"

"Oh, good Horatio, you must learn to loosen up once in a while."

In the end, the young scholar's fondness for theater won over his responsibility, and he decided to accompany the prince of Denmark to see the play.


	2. The Play's the Thing

The play began with a seemingly unrelated scene, two tribunes harassing plebeians for their sudden shift of opinion. The pair sat through this patiently. When the scenery shifted, however, they began to perk up. As the Lupercalia festivities were underway, a soothsayer had interrupted, warning Caesar to "Beware the ides of March!" The object of this portent had brushed the soothsayer off, and the crowd moved forward to the racetracks.

"Quite a sinister warning. Caesar's decision to ignore this will surely contribute to his downfall," Horatio commented, delivering a detached analysis. "It's a common feature of tragedies. The hero is given an opportunity for redemption and he throws it away.

Now, Brutus and Cassius were alone. The latter talked of overthrowing Caesar and seizing power, though he veiled it under patriotism and concern for the general public of Rome.

"Brutus, can't you see he's trying to manipulate you?!" Hamlet cried at the actor. "Besides, Cassius hasn't even given any reasonable statements to support killing Caesar, his attacks are all-what's the word for it, Horatio?"

"Ad hominem," the scholar replied.

"Yes! Oh, Brutus, stop getting blinded by your stupid idealism! Killing Caesar seems like a good course of action, though. The man is an arrogant and selfish fool."

The lightning and omens in Scene 3 spooked the prince, and he hid his face on Horatio's shirtsleeve for a while. When Cassius came on stage, announcing to Casca that he had gone bare-chested into a thunderstorm, the pair burst into laughter, forgetting Hamlet's fright.

Meanwhile, the curtains went down for Act 2.

Hamlet began to sympathize with Brutus, seeing himself mirrored in the character during his indecision. He was puzzled by the conspirators' entrance to the villa, and began wondering what this meant for their fate.

"It's Portia! She's my favorite!"

It was Horatio's turn to join in the frenzy. He had admired Brutus' wife when he read Plutarch's works, and seeing her brought to life onstage was wonderful.

Hamlet was busy analyzing everything that had happened in the scene. "Cassius comes to Brutus' house in the middle of the night...that could symbolize malicious intent...but in Act 1, Scene 3, he seemed to have begun the conspiracy for a noble cause..." He turned to the scholar, who was still in awe at the poetic verse Brutus and Portia had exchanged. "Say, Horatio, this play is making history more complicated for me than it ought to."

"It is likely that it was the playwright's intention," Horatio agreed. "He probably wanted you to see these events in a different light and come to your own conclusions instead of blindly accepting everything your professors tell you, don't you think?"

Hamlet chewed on this as Caesar lost another chance at redemption, trusting Decius' flattery over Calphurnia's pleas.

After the panic of the last scenes of Act 2, the moment they were waiting for finally arrived: the assassination scene. The drama and suspense that built up-the senators' anguish, Brutus' and Cassius' furtive whispers, last ditch attempts at saving Rome's dictator perpetuus-kept the students on edge and wanting more. The stabbing it culminated with was well-orchestrated, gripping the audience as a shred of Caesar's humanity was shown, contrasting beautifully with the man who had arrogantly brushed off Cimber's flattery moments before.

Hamlet, an honest boy who didn't put stock in deceit and disliked the manipulation used by the ambassadors who frequented his father's court, couldn't help but cringe at how _fake_ Antony was acting towards the conspirators. Despite Horatio's explanation that this was his character flaw and that it was part and parcel of politics ("You're going to be king one day, my lord. I'm afraid you have no choice but to get used to it."), he was disgusted.

Hamlet kept ranting until he saw Brutus return to the stage.

Throughout "Romans, Countrymen, and Lovers," Hamlet wondered how people could find this oration bland and lifeless. Yes, it was in plainspoken prose, simple and unornamented, but it told the audience volumes about Brutus, his love for his countrymen, his determination to do good, and his devotion to his ideals. That, in the prince's mind, was the most beautiful thing of all, more than Antony's poetic, but manipulative and insincere, oration.

Hamlet would never admit it to himself, but deep down, he quite liked Antony's too and enjoyed it very much. That was probably because of the actor, who managed to pull off the weeping so skillfully that the prince wanted to embrace and comfort the young senator.

This sympathy vanished with the reappearance of Antony's deceit.

For his part, Horatio was observing everything as if he were doing research for History.

The tragedy of Cinna the Poet was followed by yet another scene which intensified Hamlet's dislike of Antony. _How can you accuse Lepidus of being useless and only good enough to be a tool, when you yourself are a mere chit riding on the coattails of an even greater man? Hypocrite._

Horatio was disgusted with Antony, too, but he was more focused on Octavius, the young, relatively unknown relation of Caesar. _The boy may be young and quite insignificant,_ he thought, smiling, _but he'll have the last laugh in this affair._

The way Brutus and Cassius acted around each other made Hamlet and Horatio wonder. What had happened between these two lifelong friends to make them speak such bitter words to each other?

Horatio knew that the bribing and miscommunication weren't the real reasons for Brutus' and Cassius' fight. Below all that, he could see that the assassination's failure had taken its toll on their relationship. When they resolved their misunderstanding and became the loyal friends of the first act once more, he felt so affected he gave Hamlet a peck on the cheek out of nowhere, an action unexpected, but greatly appreciated, by the heir to Denmark's throne.

The news of Portia's death turned both of them into sobbing disasters. The ghost of Caesar sent foreboding down their spines.

The last act was quite long-thirty minutes or so-but it all seemed to flash before their eyes. A sense of disturbed peace at Brutus' and Cassius' parting, futile hope at the "cold demeanor in Octavius' wing," disappointment at Cassius' death, admiration for Antony's political tactics, sorrow at Brutus' demise, hope that Octavius would be a good leader-all these mixed into a cathartic conclusion, leaving the students in a daze as they pushed through the crowd and descended from the gallery to see if they could meet some of the players.


	3. Reassurance

p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"Horatio looked out the window as he thought of the play. It had been wonderful, and many of the words were now imprinted on his heart. But one line in particular repeated itself in his head over and over again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"When beggars die, there are no comets seen-/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"A young woman in rags sat on the street outside, shivering and hungry./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"The prince in silks and furs lay beneath the covers, warm and content with life./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"Both were looking up at the stars in the sky, appreciating those who made the darkness more bearable. emHow unfair, /emthe scholar thought, emfor them to acknowledge one but not the other. Since when did earthly power make someone matter more than their helpless fellow men on the street?/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"Hamlet stirred. "Horatio, what is troubling you?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;""Oh," he replied, caught off guard by this unexpected question. "I just remembered that line of Calphurnia's in the second act...the one with beggars and princes." It was only now that Horatio realized he'd been crying. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: 11.85pt;"span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;""How peculiar," the prince chuckled, "you can discuss things like the witch burnings of Savoy with composure, but one line in a play brings you to tears."/span/p  
p style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;""It wasn't the line on its own," Horatio replied. /spanspan style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: #2a2a2a;""It reminded me of you, and how you'll leave me one day. My God, my God, Hamlet-" He paused to correct himself. "I mean, my lord-"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"Hamlet walked over to the chair in the corner to comfort his friend. "Horatio, I am twenty-one. I'll hang around to annoy you for at least another century, and when I do die I'll come back to haunt you if you miss me that much." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"The idea was so laughable that Horatio let out a good-natured chuckle through his tears. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;""You'll probably die first, though. 'The good die young,' the old ones say."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;""Oh, my lord, do stop talking about death."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;""Do stop addressing me as "my lord" when you've been sharing my bed for a year!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;""All right, Hamlet," Horatio sighed happily, pulling the other boy into a tender hug./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"When he was sure the other boy was under the umbrella of the Ole-Lukoie, Horatio pulled him closer, whispering, "You know, I wasn't joking. I really would miss you if you died...I love you so much..."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"Before he could lay back down on his pillow, the scholar felt a faint brushing of lips on his own, an affectionate chuckle, and a whispered smile in the dark accompanied by the words "I love you too."/span/p 


	4. Meteor Showers

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"The moon hid her face behind the clouds. Horatio surveyed this sight from the battlements of Elsinore, hiding his own eyes behind a handkerchief. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"He looked back on the events of yesterday. Horatio had always believed Hamlet would die content and at peace, surrounded by loved ones and warm sheets, an old, happy king. But it was not to be. Instead, metal had clashed with metal, poison had played murderous tricks, and perpetrators of violence had their designs turned against them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"The worst part was, he had been there to witness it all. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"In order to distract himself from death, Horatio thought of happy memories of life. Eventually, his thoughts led him to his time at university./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"It had been a wild ride. There was a never-ending stream of work to be done, it was difficult navigating an unfamiliar city, and homesickness sometimes attacked. But throughout all the stress of student life, there had been many bright patches in the dark cloud./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"Their favorite pastime had been watching theater. Horatio remembered that one autumn evening when they had watched a play, was it not called emJulius Caesar/em?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"There had been one line that struck him to the heart. Horatio looked up at the stars, trying to remember./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"A meteor shower was dancing across the heavens at this moment. Their tails shone brightly, all fiery splendor, looking like queens decked in all their regalia-/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"emspan style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"When beggars die, there are no comets seen, the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"Remembering Calphurnia's line, Horatio forgot his contemplation of the night sky's beauties, and his thoughts were brought back to earth, to the death of his own prince. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"Hamlet had comforted him that night, laughingly reassuring Horatio that the lines in the play did not apply to him. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"emspan style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"I'll hang around to annoy you for at least another century, and when I do die I'll come back to haunt you if you miss me that much, /span/emspan style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"the prince had said./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"emspan style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"Oh, /span/emspan style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"Horatio began to weep, emif only that were true./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"But some things were never meant to be./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 15.45pt 0in; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #2a2a2a; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"As he looked back at the sky to see the meteors, Horatio thought he could hear a ringing laugh, teasing and comforting at once, similar to the one he had heard that night so many months ago. Perhaps it was just the wind./span/p 


End file.
